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Going To Vegas Pointed To Rodeo Drive Stakes After John C. Mabee Win

Soon after Going to Vegas crossed under the finish line 2 ¼-lengths in front to win the $200,000 Grade 2 John C. Mabee Stakes at Del Mar Thoroughbred Club in Del Mar, Ca., on Saturday, what seemed like a tsunami of humanity descended from the grandstand to engulf the winner's circle for the picture and trophy ceremonies.

It was estimated that around 250 people – owners or friends of owners of the three partnership groups involved with the 4-year-old daughter of Goldencents — whooped, hollered, and smiled for the camera.

Bing Bush, founder and manager of Abbondanza Racing, figured that his 14-member group accounted for about 50 of the crowd, Medallion Racing about four, and the rest from MyRacehorse, the micro-shares organization that has had a large impact on racing in a short time.

There was plenty of joy to go around, and Bush, a Del Mar resident, was still savoring it this morning when he checked in at trainer Richard Baltas' barn to get the good news that Going to Vegas had come out of the race fine.

The Mabee victory, her sixth in 21 career starts, fueled thoughts of a Breeders' Cup start at Del Mar, where Going to Vegas has two wins and has only been out of the money once in seven starts on the Jimmy Durante Turf Course.

“We can always dream and this made that dream seem a step closer to reality,” Bush said. “We're going to be aiming her for the Rodeo Drive Stakes at Santa Anita. I think she'll like the distance.”

The Rodeo Drive, on October 2, is 1 ¼ miles, an eighth of a mile longer than the John C. Mabee but a distance at which the 4-year-old daughter of Goldencents won the Santa Ana there in March and was second in the Santa Anita Oaks last December.

A victory in the Grade 1 Rodeo Drive carries with it a berth in the 1 3/8-mile, $2 million Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf at Del Mar on November 6. Otherwise, a six-figure supplemental entry fee would be necessary for Going to Vegas, who was not made Breeders' Cup eligible as a foal.

“To win here is so wonderful and to win the John Mabee Stakes, a man who was such an iconic figure here and such a major figure in the racing industry, is just great,” Bush said.

The post Going To Vegas Pointed To Rodeo Drive Stakes After John C. Mabee Win appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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Casse ‘All Smiles’ After Get Stormy’s Fourstardave Victory, 104 Beyer Speed Figure

Trainer Mark Casse was all smiles on Sunday morning at Saratoga Race Course after securing his first Grade 1 victory as a newly enshrined Hall of Famer when Got Stormy bested males to win the $500,000 Fourstardave for the second time on Saturday.

Owned by Spendthrift Farm and MyRacehorse Stable, Got Stormy set a course record over the inner turf capturing the 2019 Fourstardave in a time of 1:32 flat with Ricardo Santana, Jr. up.

After finishing second in last year's running to pacesetting Halladay, the 6-year-old chestnut daughter of 2010 Fourstardave victor Get Stormy vindicated herself with a sharp 1 ½-length triumph under Tyler Gaffalione.

The victory registered a 104 Beyer Speed Figure, a tenth lifetime triple-digit number for the talented mare, and included a “Win and You're In” berth to the Breeders' Cup Mile on November 6 at Del Mar.

Despite last week's Hall of Fame induction, the summer campaign had been a frustrating one for Casse, who was winless at the current Saratoga meet before Got Stormy's Fourstardave coup.

“It's been a rough meet, but my wife [Tina] said it best: 'It's been gloomy in Saratoga until the storm blew through,'” Casse said.

Got Stormy arrived at the Fourstardave off two fifth-place finishes at graded stakes level after making her seasonal bow a winning one in the Grade 3 Honey Fox on February 27 at Gulfstream Park.

Sent off at 12-1 odds, Casse said he nevertheless felt confident in his mare because of her demeanor in the paddock.

“It's her. She just gets happy,” Casse said. “She was walking around after I had saddled her and I told Tyler, 'She's got her game face on today, they better be ready,' I could tell she just wanted to go out there and do it.”

Casse said Got Stormy, a seven-time graded stakes winner with graded scores at six different tracks, will appreciate a return to Del Mar, where she captured the Grade 1 Matriarch in her final start of 2019.

“The good news for us is she's 1-for-1 at Del Mar,” Casse said. “We should have hard and fast [turf] there, and the turns aren't quite as tight as they are here but they're sharp. I want to get one race into her, I just haven't figured out where I want to do that yet.

“She just loves training here so much. Most horses do,” Casse added regarding Got Stormy's affinity for Saratoga. “She enjoys the tight turns. She can run around a turn like most horses can't, so that helps.”

Casse mentioned the possibility of attempting a dual conquest in the $600,000 Grade 3 Kentucky Downs Ladies Sprint on September 11 at Kentucky Downs in Franklin, Ky.

“I can go to Kentucky Downs just as a prep, run her at 6 ½ [furlongs] and we don't care about the weather,” Casse said. “If it rains, it's okay. Where the soft ground hurts us is when she's trying to get a mile.”

Previously owned by Gary Barber, Got Stormy was purchased for $2.75 million by Spendthrift Farm at the 2020 Fasig-Tipton November Sale.

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Ned Toffey of Spendthrift Farm said he was delighted to see the superstar mare secure a Grade 1 victory when sporting Spendthrift's orange and purple silks.

“Mark was very confident. He said she was doing so well,” Toffey recalled. “I think clearly, she really likes Saratoga. It was just great to see. This was so gratifying because when Mr. [B. Wayne] Hughes decided to get involved with MyRacehorse, he really believed that this was something that would be successful, but what they need are really good horses.

“She didn't appear to have lost any steps yesterday so that was great to see,” Toffey continued. “She's such a gutsy, hard trying mare. You just love to see that kind do well.”

Toffey said he felt gratified to be able to provide the multiple MyRacehorse partners a prestigious victory at Saratoga.

“To get a Grade 1 and to be able to see a project like this come full circle, work out this way, and have a bunch of enthusiastic MyRacehorse fans to be there and share it with us was a great feeling,” Toffey said.

Casse said that maiden Volcanic, a two-time starting son of Violence owned by Breeze Easy, could race back in the $300,000 Grade 1 Hopeful on September 6. The $230,000 Keeneland September Yearling Sale purchase finished third last out in a six-furlong maiden event on July 24 at the Spa.

The Hall of Fame trainer said Live Oak Plantation's graded stakes-winner Souper Sensational, who finished second in the Grade 1 Longines Test here on August 7, could race back in the $250,000 Grade 2 Prioress on September 4 at the Spa.

The post Casse ‘All Smiles’ After Get Stormy’s Fourstardave Victory, 104 Beyer Speed Figure appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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Pacific Classic Contenders Put In Final Works

Summer Wind Equine's Magic On Tap worked five furlongs under jockey Abel Cedillo in :59 flat this morning for Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert in a final prep for the $1 million TVG Pacific Classic which is now one week away. It was one of five works, at Del Mar and Saratoga, by nominees for the signature event of the summer season.

“It went well. We're running in the Pacific Classic,” Baffert said via text of Magic On Tap's exercise.

Working with stablemate Private Mission, who Del Mar clockers also timed in :59 for five furlongs, Magic On Tap completed a series of three workouts since finishing fifth in the $250,000 Grade 2 San Diego Handicap on July 17.

A stumble at the start severely compromised the 5-year-old son of Tapit's chances in the 1 1/16-mile San Diego Handicap, the major prep for the 1 ¼-mile TVG Pacific Classic. Magic On Tap had arrived at Del Mar with a record of three victories in six career starts and earnings of $228,800 and was fresh from a win in the seven-furlong Grade 2 Triple Bend Stakes at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, Calif., in May.

Later in the morning, Hall of Fame trainer Richard Mandella sent MyRacehorse and Spendthrift Farm's Tizamagician out for a five-furlong work in one minute flat with an interim clocking of :36.20 under exercise rider Austin Solis, the son of retired Hall of Fame jockey Alex Solis.

“He looked great. Couldn't be better,” Mandella said of the 4-year-old son of Tiznow.

Tizamagician has five wins in 18 career starts and earnings of $427,851. He stamped himself as a TVG Pacific Classic contender by winning the 1 ½-mile Grade 3 Cougar II Stakes on July 18.

Perry and Denise Martin's Mo Mosa, trained by Michael Maker, went five furlongs in 1:00.60 at Del Mar under exercise rider Marcelo Medina in a team work with stablemate Fight On. Track clockers recorded splits of :11.2; :23.0; :35.2, and a final quarter in :25.1.

“It was a great work, we were very pleased with it,” said Nolan Ramsey, in charge of the Del Mar string for Maker. “We need to speak with the owners. The Pat O'Brien is an option, but it (Pacific Classic) is still on the table for discussion.”

Mo Mosa finished fourth — behind TVG Pacific Classic nominees Express Train, Tripoli, and Royal Ship – in the San Diego Handicap shipping in from a stakes victory in May at Lone Star Park in Texas.

Cupid's Claws, owned by Flawless Racing and partners and trained by Craig Dollase, worked five furlongs from the gate at Del Mar in 1:00 under Umberto Rispoli.

“He looked good and he finished up very well,” Dollase said. “It's a go for the Pacific Classic.”

At Saratoga, Todd Pletcher-trained Dr Post worked four furlongs in :49.22, 27th of 80 at the distance. “We're pleased with his workout and he'll go west,” Pletcher said. “He is scheduled to ship on Tuesday.”

TVG Pacific Classic nominee The Great One went six furlongs in 1:13.20, but trainer Doug O'Neill said the 3-year-old is more likely to stay in competition with his age group peers in the $100,000 Shared Belief Stakes on August 29. Trainer Mike McCarthy said Independence Hall, who worked Friday, still has the Charlestown Classic as the main target.

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An Offshoot of MyRacehorse, Edge Racing Off to a Fast Start

As the MyRacehorse syndicate continued to grow, the team there kept hearing what became a familiar refrain from some of its many partners. They wanted something more.

While the microshare concept proved to be innovative and popular, there are some limitations when you might own only a tiny fraction of a horse. With that in mind, last fall, MyRacehorse created a spinoff business, launching Edge Racing. Edge is more along the lines of traditional partnerships, which may include about a dozen owners instead of several hundred or even a thousand.

“As MyRacehorse grew and developed, people started wanting a little bit more,” said Joe Moran, the stable manager for Edge Racing, who also oversees MyRacehorse's contingent in California. “We saw people venturing off, whether going to other partnerships or going out on their own. We decided to put this new group together. We wanted to give people the sort of service and experience that comes along with owning a larger share of a horse. We wanted to let them take the next step in ownership.”

Just nine months after its inception, Edge Racing has burst out of the gate, in large part thanks to its star horse, Yes This Time (Not This Time), who is entered in Saturday $1-million GI Saratoga Derby Invitational. A winner of five straight, the colt will be facing the biggest test of his career.

“He deserves a shot to go against the best,” Moran said.

Back in the winter, Moran was scouting around for good candidates to add to the Edge Racing roster and came upon Yes This Time. He was coming off a win in a $30,000 maiden claiming race at Fair Grounds in his first try on the grass. Knowing that he was eligible for plenty of winnable races, Moran made the purchase, paying $100,000 for the colt. Edge Racing sold 10% shares in the horse and brought in six partners.

“This was a horse I found from browsing the races on a daily basis,” Moran said. “We thought he was coming off an impressive performance and we thought he had a lot of potential with his pedigree. But did I think we'd be running in a $1-million Grade I seven months down the road? Maybe not quite. He had run in a maiden claimer so he had multiple conditions left. That was really the play, to take advantage of those conditions.”

Kelly Neely was among the first to sign up for a piece of Yes This Time.

“I had had a lot to do with the Standardbred business for decades, but I wanted the real horses,” she said. “I didn't want to buy them myself. I went to sales and kept studying for about three years. I said to myself, 'Wow, I need to get involved in a partnership.' I went to MyRacehorse and after I bought a few microshares, thought I want a real percentage. They put me in touch with Joe Moran and it's been a wonderful ride.”

Edge Racing looks to keep its partners informed and involved. They hold bi-weekly Zoom meetings so that Moran can fill in each owner on the latest developments with the stable and because they own a large enough interest to get an owner's badge they can visit their horses on the backstretch any time they please.

Now trained by Kelly Breen, Yes This Time finished fourth in a Jan. 21 starter allowance at Gulfstream in his debut for Edge Racing. He hasn't lost since. After winning another starter allowance, he captured an allowance race at Gulfstream and then the English Channel S. He showed up next at Delaware Park for the GIII Kent S, which he won by a length.

“The fact that we are in this race at Saratoga and we belong in this race is overwhelming to me,” Neely said. “It's a dream come true.”

Yes This Time is one of nine horses currently owned by Edge Racing. The horses are spread around the country, in California, Texas, Kentucky, New Jersey, New York and Florida. The stable got off to a quick start, winning with its first starter, Escape Route (Hard Spun). He was claimed for $40,000 out of an Oct. 10, 2020 maiden claimer at Keeneland and came right back to win a starter allowance at Del Mar. The stable also includes In Due Time (Not This Time). A $95,000 purchase at the Ocala Breeders' Sale Spring Sale, he won a July maiden special weight race in his debut. He is also trained by Breen.

While the selling of microshares will remain the company's core business, Moran said the MyRacehorse team believes Edge Racing will eventually knock heads with more well-known syndicates, like West Point, Starlight and Eclipse Thoroughbreds.

“I think we can turn this into one of the top traditional syndicates around the nation,” he said. “We've already had some short-term success. From a brand standpoint, we haven't marketed a ton. We have kept this close knit because we really want to let the people involved know exactly what they are getting into. We want to be all around the country and get people involved, to get people to love horse racing. That's our thing. We have so much passion for the game and that's what we're trying to bring to all our new owners out there.”

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